The Mirror of Erised
by gudbooks
Summary: A random idea I came up with - what would different characters see if they looked into the mirror that shows your heart's desire?
1. Chapter 1

AN: First chapter

**AN: First chapter! Hermione first and then depending on reviews I might continue. Enjoy!**

**I do not own anything here, unless you count thoughts that I have made up. I make no money from this and hope JK Rowling believes that!**

Chapter 1 – Hermione Granger

_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._

In her first year of Hogwarts, it would have shown belonging, friendships.

In her second, stopping the attacks, maybe even escaping from it all.

In her third, everyone she loved, safe and well, not feeling the threatening presence of Sirius Black who (everyone believed) was a murderer.

But after the summer of her fourth year, when she saw Harry emerge from the maze with a body – Cedric Diggory's body – and he announced that Voldemort was back… She would have seen Voldemort dead. For so long, _that_ was her truest desire. And after a while, she realised that although Harry was the one spoken of in the prophecy, she could help him. If she truly wanted the world freed of Voldemort, she would overcome her fear and aid her friend to do it.

And at times, that desire wavered, and she considered abandoning their plans; going back to her parents; running after Ron and apologising, not caring whether Voldemort remained or not, only wanting, needing to be with Ron, to guarantee he would never leave again.

But she always brought herself back to sensibility. How could she not? To just leave and eliminate her responsibilities would free her of the task – that impossible task – but it would also condemn both worlds to an eternity of pain, suffering and fear. However long it would take, she knew that the end result, the death of Voldemort, would relieve everyone of that suffering.

And then he was laid out in a separate chamber and her heart sang. And then she was confused, because Fred was dead and so were Lupin and Tonks and so many others she knew by name or face. She didn't know how to feel. But her heart's desire had been fulfilled.

As had others.

After the Battle of Hogwarts, she wasn't quite sure what to do with herself. She had no need to be afraid anymore, or find out something her life depended on. So she threw herself into her last year of study, and took her N.E.W.Ts at home.

At that point, the mirror might not have shown _anything – _she was so unsure of _everything._

And when everything seemed so difficult – Harry having responsibility of baby Teddy, funeral after funeral after funeral, when the grief and anguish grew and grew, and slowed her life down until it seemed like she was wading through treacle by living each day…

Sometimes, then, she wanted out, wanted not to have to deal with it all. She was so tired of coping, so tired of being capable.

Again, when she had such dark thoughts, she reminded herself that things would get better; they hadn't done all they had for nothing. Things would change.

And they did. She had always had Ron, and she had proved to him that he could always have her, when she kissed him in the Battle of Hogwarts.

And then, again, they proved it to each other that precious day in August, when they exchanged vows and were declared married.

She was so unbelievably happy that day, and looking into the mirror, again, she would have seen nothing, but because her heart was bursting with joy, rather than confusion.

Throughout those next few years, having Rose and then Hugo, her heart's desire was being fulfilled – a happy family to love and be loved in return. Everyone was still coming to terms with relatives' and friends' deaths, but surely she shared her desire others. She definitely knew that Ron, Harry and Ginny wanted the same.

She lived with the grief, as she knew so many others did, but it was being balanced all the time by the love of her family, the happiness they shared and the determination to make the world right.

Hermione Granger is living proof that some desires of the heart can be granted, and some pain can be negated by joy.

_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._

**AN: There you go guys! Tell me what you think and if I should carry on. (If I did, the next person would probably be Ginny).**

**REVIEW!! I need feedback!**

**gudbooks **


	2. Chapter 2

AN/ Well thanks to all who reviewed the last one

**AN: / Well thanks to all who reviewed the last one. This one is Ginny. I know that the main theme in this is often used with the Weasleys but I think I've put a bit more into it…at least I hope I have…!**

**Chapter 2- Ginny Weasley**

_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._

All the time she was growing up, she felt as if she was halfway between special and unremarkable. Special, because, after all, her family loved her, she was an individual, she was the youngest, the girl. She was unique.

But unremarkable, because she had six brothers ahead of her, who had all done what she was doing, had all felt what she was feeling – and she had a lot to live up to.

Bill had been a prefect and then Head Boy. Charlie had been the Quidditch phenomenon of his time. Percy was ambitious, sure to _get _somewhere in life. Fred and George, although not great achievers, joked and laughed – and their marks weren't _truly_ dreadful.

And Ron…He was closest to her in age and she knew he felt as she did about living up to their elder brothers. But when he started Hogwarts, he knew _Harry Potter_ and he seemed to move a little away from her.

At that time in her life, the year before she started school, the mirror would probably have shown her doing something _different_.

Ron's gaze into the Mirror of Erised had shown him doing things his brothers had done before him. Ginny, on the other hand, wanted something else, something new, to set her apart from her brothers, to say "Look at me. I'm different. I'm not just another Weasley!"

When she developed the Bat Bogey Hex in her later school life, she supposed that it was part of that desire. Going to the D.A became part of it too. She felt that it proved to her brothers that she was ready, capable to fight and to know what was going on in this fearful place the magical world had suddenly become.

And at the end of her fourth year, going to the Ministry… that proved it to Harry, which, she was surprised to find, meant the same (if not more) to her than proving her worth to her brothers.

She remembered how they had argued about letting her go with them - Harry saying she was too young; Ron refusing to believe she would be coming. She remembered her retorts too…

"_I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!"_

"_I'm three years older than you were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Philosopher's Stone…"_

"_It's because of me that Malfoy's stuck back in Umbridge's office with giant flapping bogies attacking him…"_

It had worked – Harry had agreed that she, Neville and Luna would come. But she had been in danger, they all had. She had been scared, she had needed support, but she had felt as though this was proving to her brother and his two friends that she was just as capable as them, just as willing to dispose of Voldemort.

She had also known then, that she wanted to be with Harry. She had known she liked him, but she was better at controlling it, not letting it show. It would have never shown up in the mirror at that point, though. She had wanted him, but she had either believed that it would never happen or that if it could, it would – she had to wait.

That was why she was devastated when he said that they couldn't keep it going. She understood why, she knew he didn't want her to get hurt, but still…

It was as though he was saying "Look, I never believed you were capable, or willing to take those risks. I'm doing this for your own safety, because you don't know what's best for you."

Even though she knew, she hoped that he didn't think that, it still felt that way.

But she resigned herself to the fact that he, Ron and Hermione would be heading off into the unknown, that even if they did come back, Harry might not love her. She cried over it, of course, but she had tried to seem cheerful, especially around her family.

On his birthday, when they had kissed, she had found some small hope burn inside her again. Maybe he wouldn't go. Maybe he would keep himself alive…_for her_. But Ron had opened the door, broken it up, and she had been deflated again, that small flame of hope snuffed out.

Of course he would go. How could she go against the opinion of almost the entire wizarding world? He had to destroy Voldemort or no-one could.

So her heart's desire then, was that she was along with them. At least that way, she wouldn't have to hear those terrible rumours of their deaths and hope they were alive, but still doubting, still doubting…

Or maybe then, her heart's desire was to see them all home again, safe and well, _proving _those rumours wrong with their very existence. And Harry would take her in his arms and they would start from where they had left off, without Voldemort's threat calling him back, calling him away from her…

That year at Hogwarts was torture – in more ways than one. She had thought about Harry so often and for so long… and the Death Eaters taking over school were definitely keen on torture as a punishment, but she hadn't tried to keep her head down, to begin with. She, Luna and Neville had defied them, sneaking out at night to release chained-up students, writing graffiti on the walls and encouraging others to do the same. They had even broken into Snape's office… But she hadn't gone back after the Easter break.

Her mum had become increasingly worried about Ron and Ginny hadn't wanted to make that worry double by risking torture at school.

She had known she was safer at home than at Hogwarts, what with all the Death Eaters, but she had felt she still owed something to her friends, especially as Luna wasn't at school either. She wanted to stay there, to encourage Neville and the others to keep standing up to them. How dare the Death Eaters think they could torture and discriminate against Muggles and Muggle-borns, without someone arguing? She had wanted to show them that what they were doing wasn't right, that some people wouldn't meekly do what they were told.

Of course, she was still proving her worth, but she wasn't quite sure who she was proving it _to_. It wasn't just to make her feel important either. She had genuinely believed that someone had to speak out, someone had to take action. Someone had to make life hard for the Death Eaters…

And on that day in the summer, she remembered her D.A coin getting hot…the message that Harry was alive, they were going to fight! She had run to Fred and George to tell them, and they had said the same straight back at her. They hadn't wanted her to go and she had been furious. All that effort over the past six years to prove herself was still being overlooked. They still didn't think her capable.

After a long argument, they agreed to take her by Side-Along Apparition. All the way up the tunnel, she had been bursting with anticipation. _Harry was alive! _

She couldn't wait to see him, but knew that he would be getting ready for something big – after all, he was going to cause havoc for the Death Eaters! So she was bitterly disappointed when they had told that they had to do something else, do it and then go. _I don't want them to go…_

Tears had pricked in her eyes, but she had blinked them away and watched intently as the three of them – her brother, her best friend and her… her what? Ex-boyfriend? It felt so much more than that…

Anyway, she had watched intently as the three of them discussed whatever it was they had to do. Ron had seemed to be persuading Harry that the others could help…how she wished her brother would succeed in that!

And then Harry had left with Luna to go to the Ravenclaw common room and soon after, Ron and Hermione had left too…She had felt a little disorientated – hadn't she come to help them, had been so excited about seeing them? But they had gone elsewhere in the castle.

The run-up to the Battle had been…confusing, to say the least.

The Order of the Phoenix had started turning up and the rest of the students had gone to the Great Hall. But she had stayed, waiting for her brothers, her mum and dad. She had known that many other people were staying to fight, and she had thought she could stay too. But her mother wasn't having any of it.

_Still! _she had thought in exasperation. _I still haven't proved myself to them!_

But, as she sat in the Room of Requirement and as she was joined by Tonks and Neville's grandmother, she reflected.

Fred, George and Ron, at least, knew of her skills, knew her achievements from the D.A. She knew her family were proud of her. They knew she could cope. But they loved her too much and had one last excuse to stop her from fighting. They could still say that she was underage, that she was too young to make her own decisions, but not to patronise her – they wanted to protect her.

Even after Harry unintentionally let her out of the Room, back to the Battle, she continued to consider that.

She concluded that, as they cared about her so much, she wanted to show them, not that she could be fierce and ruthless, but that she could care for and protect people dear to her as well….

But then Fred had died, and she felt as if her resolution had failed before it had begun – after all, she had failed to protect her own brother… Then she had had to prove it to herself all over again and when she did, she had decided she wanted children, a family. And she wanted it with no one else but Harry. At least, she had reasoned, it was _do-able. _It was possible – as long as he still loved her. As long as he still wanted to be with her.

So when her dream was happening in front of her very eyes, she was too happy for words.

She was beaming at her wedding.

She was smiling through her tears when her children were born.

She felt a warm rush of happiness near her heart at little moments, like when Al had given her a shaky, crayoned, spellotaped picture of her.

Of course, she was angry at times; she wept for Fred, for everything and everyone that had been lost; she was afraid some days.

She still had her trials and tribulations like everyone. But at the end of a busy day, her hair wet from Quidditch in the rain, a cup of hot chocolate in her hands and her family, gathered together, just talking and having a good time, she was sure of her place and sure of herself, and she felt as if nothing could hold her down.

_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._

**AN: / I just thought, Harry and Ginny are very suited. They both want to prove themselves (like in the first one when the Sorting Hat says that Harry has a "great thirst to prove yourself")…**

**Anyway, what did you think? This was a lot longer than my first chapter, I know- I think I may have got a little carried away…**

**Any suggestions for other chapters? And this is to ****Flameonurass-TruSC**** – I'm working on your suggestion!!**

**I'm attempting the impossible for the next one…Harry! I hope I've done a good job for this one at least!! Please REVIEW!!**


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